Thread: Scientists Discover Way to Record Dreams...

That seems like it completly negates the need for a dream journal.
And as for what I think about it - I think I would do it, but only if I was the only person able to see the results, unless I wanted to share it. It could be a great way to show off an awsome dream, but I've had a few embarrasing dreams that I would probably store away on a DVD and leave to rot in my basement.

It seems to me that they haven't conclusively proven that they can image dreams. They have only been able to reproduce images that people were actually looking at. Without really knowing about the technology, I'd say it is still possible that the brain processes actual images differently than it processes imagined images. Then again, they could be essentially the same thing. It all depends if the technology depends on information actually transmitted by the optic nerves.

What really scares me is where this technology is going to go... Just the fact that they're able to take images you're thinking about and put them, although rather blurry, onto a computer screen is a pretty huge thing.

They're calling it "the dream machine." I'll bet this technology will have advanced very far in five years.

Yeah, it seems that the military has dibs on the latest technologies. You don't want them getting inside our minds. On the other hand, recording your dreams would be great! But so far they only got blurry visuals. They need auditory and kinesthetice and emotional recording devices as well. And playback methods.

In the right hands, this technology has some good potential for entertainment. But what else is good about it? Aren't dreams supposed to be private?

People who master LD could make money directing dream-movies
I'm interested. Hope this develops further. Hope that it's gonna be used responsibly

Originally Posted by ruba

Hope that it's gonna be used responsibly

Yes, responsively, we hope. But in this world, what's the chance of that?

Sadly enough, I have to agree.

Pretty interesting. The speed with which science and technology are advancing... who knows where it will lead. From what I understood from the info, the key problem is that they have to calibrate the reading device for each individual person. So they show Bill an X and based on the specific brain readings for Bill, they arrange the large pixels on the "reading" screen to make an X. Latter when they have Bill think of an X, the "reading" screen shows a close version of the X. The challenge with all of this is that the various neural pathways not only vary among individual brains but also change over time (Neuroplasticity). The brain amazes me. I would love to someday see my dreams on a screen. Of course, by the time it happens, you wouldn't be watching a screen, but instead holographic 3D images in the middle of a room.

Thanks for posting the links.

Originally Posted by JustinS

Pretty interesting. The speed with which science and technology are advancing... who knows where it will lead. From what I understood from the info, the key problem is that they have to calibrate the reading device for each individual person. So they show Bill an X and based on the specific brain readings for Bill, they arrange the large pixels on the "reading" screen to make an X. Latter when they have Bill think of an X, the "reading" screen shows a close version of the X. The challenge with all of this is that the various neural pathways not only vary among individual brains but also change over time (Neuroplasticity). The brain amazes me. I would love to someday see my dreams on a screen. Of course, by the time it happens, you wouldn't be watching a screen, but instead holographic 3D images in the middle of a room.

Thanks for posting the links.

Or you would go to sleep and have the exact same dream...

Haha. It's the year 2100: The government has super-satellites in space that record the thinking processes of every human on earth, and stores them in a database. All who have rebellious thoughts against the government would have their doors kicked in by a special task force, and be made to "disappear." Sounds like the plot to a very interesting sci-fi movie.

How cool would it be, though, to not have to record your dreams anymore - you could just watch them on playback. You could now remember 20 dreams every night! (Or not even remember - you can just watch them!). That would be absolutely amazing!

Originally Posted by JustinS

Pretty interesting. The speed with which science and technology are advancing... who knows where it will lead. From what I understood from the info, the key problem is that they have to calibrate the reading device for each individual person. So they show Bill an X and based on the specific brain readings for Bill, they arrange the large pixels on the "reading" screen to make an X. Latter when they have Bill think of an X, the "reading" screen shows a close version of the X. The challenge with all of this is that the various neural pathways not only vary among individual brains but also change over time (Neuroplasticity). The brain amazes me. I would love to someday see my dreams on a screen. Of course, by the time it happens, you wouldn't be watching a screen, but instead holographic 3D images in the middle of a room.

Thanks for posting the links.

Yeah, it's definitely in the beginning stages... I just wonder where they're going to go with it, and it would be cool to get everyones speculations about it.

The brain is a pretty incredible thing, indeed.

BAH well the government has SO many secrets they probably already knew this and is using this now.... they know all about area 51 and everything so they will probably find a way to delay people to figuring it out sooner

Stuff like this truly scares me, especially from an ethical viewpoint. Hopefully it won't be abused.

Originally Posted by Demara

Hopefully it won't be abused.

Hope all you want. Some government will abuse this.

This gives a new meaning to the phrase "Don't even dream it!"

Renegade shamans unite! Control your dreams, fight the Man!

I don't think we need to worry about mass-brain-scans just yet. The person had to be inserted into a chamber in order to just get an unclear image...so it's going to be a long while before it's reduced down to something like a headset, much less a device that can scan from a distance.

So personally I'm not scared, even though I understand the possible implications. I'll probably be dead before the technology advances enough to be a threat

Wow! Sure the technology is far away from recording dreams, but this is still really trippy stuff. I don't even know whether I should be excited or scared! Either way, I think this means being a lucid dreamer will become more important than ever

Since I was about 6 I talked about and fantasized about how to it would be to have a technology like this. Record stuff with it and make awesome movies with awesome effects effortlessly. You can also share ideas more effectively than talking, they would literally get the picture.

I also tried silly things with my brother like syncing our thoughts together by sticking each end of a composite video into each of our ears.

Originally Posted by ruba

People who master LD could make money directing dream-movies

Oh My Gawd YES!

Anyway, I'm definately in for this! I mean, the government can suck it, because of free will, but if I forget dreams, I could just replay them and enjoy!

Also, .

Originally Posted by Lucid_Guy.exe

Also, .

I have to agree there!!!

Originally Posted by Dogod

Hope all you want. Some government will abuse this.

Correction: SomeONE will abuse this. Doesn't have to be limited to a government.

Originally Posted by Clyde Machine

Correction: SomeONE will abuse this. Doesn't have to be limited to a government.

True.

Originally Posted by LiveInTheDream

I don't think we need to worry about mass-brain-scans just yet. The person had to be inserted into a chamber in order to just get an unclear image...so it's going to be a long while before it's reduced down to something like a headset, much less a device that can scan from a distance.

So personally I'm not scared, even though I understand the possible implications. I'll probably be dead before the technology advances enough to be a threat

I wouldn't be so sure about that.
If you were alive in the 70's, would you have thought that a computer would fit in your pocket as early as 2010? (The Iphone came out in 2007, and the smartphones before that were not popular enough or powerful enough to qualify as a full computer. Even on the Iphone, the app store wasn't out until 2008)
People always think that technology is advancing much slower than it actually is. Nobody talked in terabytes until the 2000s, and petabyte isn't even in the spellcheck yet, even though the first petabyte harddrive for consumers is coming out within two years. Google is already dealing with more data in three days than the entire written human record, and within 50-100 years, if technology continues at this rate, we'll be dealing with files larger than every word ever spoken, ever, on a day to day basis.
In the 30's, people thought building rockets to escape the Earth's atmosphere was insane. It happened in the 50's.
Nobody has any idea what the world will look like, even as early as 2020.
The point is, don't think you're safe because you'll be dead before it happens, unless you have some terminal illness or are old enough to die in the next 20 years.

EDIT: The forums tried to swallow up my post, but copy-paste saved it. Now you get to read my technology rant that LiveInTheDream started me on!

It would be unbelievably awesome if you could go to sleep wearing that kit (maybe inside a comfy hat if they get the size down!), then if you have an epic dream, share it with your friends. Also, you could post it to your Dreamviews dream journal "Video Thread"!

It obviously needs a lot of work, and what I just described seems like fantasy, but I'm still excited. I don't think any organisation or government would actually abuse it. An invasion of privacy that severe would provoke open revolution among ordinary citizens. It would be sweet if you could have one of your own though, for personal use.

I think that government/organizations would definitely abuse it... because if it could completely read pictures coming from your mind, it could probably read your thoughts.